Electrosurgery is a common procedure for dentists, doctors, and veterinarians. Electrosurgical handpieces are commercially available that will accommodate a wide variety of electrodes shapes and sizes, such as needles, blades, scalpels, balls and wire loops. Also, multi-function electrodes are available. A suction coagulator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,007, whose contents are herein incorporated by reference. This is an instrument that can be connected to a source of electrosurgical energy and that provides the handpiece in the form of a hollow tube with an exposed tip. By connecting a suction source to the hollow tube end, blood and other liquids as well as vapors and odors at the operative field can be drawn out while simultaneously bleeding capillaries can be coagulated electrosurgically.
The importance of using suction to capture smoke and plume generated during an electrosurgical procedure is also well known in the art. Such procedures involving tissue excision invariably result in the generation of smoke and odors. This causes several problems. Firstly, the smoke interferes with the vision of the surgeon. Secondly, the smoke can be inhaled by the patient or the surgeon. Thirdly, the odors are offensive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,077, which describes a plume evacuation system employing a novel wand—the fitting used to capture the plume and which is attached to the suction apparatus—whose contents are herein incorporated by reference.
Reconstructive plastic surgery on the breast of a patient, especially breast implants, is a common surgical procedure. See for example the discussion and techniques described in RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY, 2nd ed., Vol. 7, Pgs. 3689–3704, publ. By W.B. Saunders Company. One of the more important steps in performing a successful breast implant is creating the pocket for the implant. Traditionally, the pocket is created using a sharp instrument (scalpel or scissors) to cut and dissect the tissue. The main problem of creating the pocket with a sharp instrument is the bleeding which obscures the surgical site and can reduce the surgeon's accuracy. Bleeding is messy and time consuming to control but if time is not taken to control the bleeding, accuracy is compromised.
Another traditional method used to create the pocket is blunt dissection. Blunt dissection however can tear rather than precisely and cleanly cut the tissue. Tearing and separating tissue with blunt dissection is a blind method and while it is fast it is very traumatic and causes an abundance of bleeding.
While the two traditional methods are easy and fast to learn, the sharp or blunt dissection techniques cause more bleeding and more tissue injury, can tear tissue, and often result in a longer recovery time.